Australian sharemarket faces third day of losses

The local sharemarket gave up ground to be 0.7pc lower at noon, dragged down by health care and banks.

Markets are cautious ahead of US jobs figures.

The Australian share market gave up more ground before noon, led lower by the health care and financial sectors amid profit-taking by investors.

With stocks facing their third day of losses, the benchmark S & P/ASX 200 index was down 41.6 points, or 0.77 per cent, at 5,374.0 points.

The broader All Ordinaries index was down 37.5 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 5,473.7.

The big four banks had all fallen, between 0.83 and 1.59 per cent, with Commonwealth Bank the best performer and Westpac the worst.

The energy sector had also dropped more than half a per cent following another overnight fall in oil prices. WTI fell more than three per cent and Brent crude more than two per cent, putting oil on track for its sharpest weekly slide since January.

That helped push shares in Woodside Petroleum down 57 cents, or 2.01 per cent, to $27.78, and Santos 4.0 cents, or 0.93 per cent, lower to $4.26. However, health care was the worst performing sector as investors appeared to cash in on recent gains.

CSL dropped $2.43, or 2.26 per cent, to $104.87, while Ramsay Health Care, which this week hit an all-time high after announcing strong profit growth and plans to expand, fell $1.46, or 1.75 per cent, to $82.20; and Sonic Healthcare lost 33.5 cents, or 1.46 per cent, to $22.665.

AAP